Turkish air strike’s seven victims identified as family on outing

[k98nights]

Turkish air strike’s seven victims identified as family on outing

22/08/2011 10:44

Erbil, August 22 (AKnews) – The seven people killed when a Turkish rocket hit a civilian car yesterday were family members visiting relatives at the foot of Qandil Mountain in northern Kurdistan, according to officials.

In addition to the parents, the remains of five other family members aged, 34, 11, 10, 6 and 4 years old were so badly charred by the blast that the corpses were unrecognizable, said mayor Hasan Abdullah of Pishdar, the district where the attack took place.

Initial reports stated that only six people were killed in yesterday’s attack because the incinerated body of 4-year-old Oscar Hussein Hassan was not found.

Both Turkey and Iran have been shelling Iraqi Kurdistan’s borders since 2006 in a drive to dislodge Kurdish separatist guerrilla groups, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and its offshoot, the PJAK (Party of Free Life for Kurdistan).

Turkey’s first incursion against the Kurdistan borders this year began on Wednesday night, when 13 fighter jets bombed 168 targets around the Qandil Mountains, a stronghold of the Kurdish rebels.

The targeted areas include the Khwakurk, Zap, Sabian and Avashin Mountains.

The attacks came hours after at least eight Turkish soldiers were killed in an ambush by PKK militants in southeast Turkey close to the Kurdistan border.

Then ion Thursday night, 18 Turkish fighter planes bombed 28 targets in northern Iraq and shelling was reported in 96 different locations. The air strikes lasted three hours with reports of continued shelling going on until Friday morning.

The PKK meanwhile say that at least 14 Turkish soldiers were killed in the clashes and scores more injured.

Turkey’s stepped up attacks are part of a military drive in response to a bloody clash between the PKK and Turkish troops on July 14 that left 13 soldiers dead. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Teyyip Erdogan promised at the time that the Kurdish rebels would pay the price.

RY/KA/AKnews

http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/3/258299/

[LittleMissGrits]

Muslims killing Muslims ... Who would have thunk it!!!